1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computing systems, and more particularly, to peripheral interfaces.
2. Background
Various peripheral devices today interface with different computing devices (e.g. desktop computers, handheld portable devices, including, portable digital assistants (“PDAs”) and cell phones; and laptops etc.). These devices often require different interfaces to operate with the computing devices. Mostly, such interfaces are defined by a standard organization, e.g., USB, I.E.E.E. 1394 and Personal Computer Memory Card International Association, (“PCMCIA”).
PCMCIA is a standard organization consisting of more than five hundred companies which developed a standard for small, credit card-sized devices, called PC Cards (PCMCIA cards). The PCMCIA standard is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Originally designed for adding memory to portable computers, the PCMCIA standard has been expanded several times and is now suitable for many types of devices. There are three types of PCMCIA cards, having the same rectangular size (85.6 by 54 millimeters), but different widths:
Type I card can be up to 3.3 mm thick, and are used primarily for adding additional ROM or RAM to a computer;
Type II card can be up to 5.5 mm thick and are often used as modem and fax modem cards; and
Type III cards can be up to 10.5 mm thick often used for portable disk drives.
As with the PCMCIA cards, PCMCIA slots also come in three sizes:
A Type I slot can hold one Type I card;
A Type II slot can hold one Type II card or one Type I card; and
A Type III slot can hold one Type III card or sometimes a combination of two, Type I and/or Type II cards. Currently, a PCMCIA card is used with a laptop computer via a standard PCMCIA slot provided by laptop manufacturers. An example of this is provided in FIG. 1A, which shows a laptop computer 100 with a display screen 101. Laptop computer 100 includes a slot 103 that receives a PCMCIA card 102. When PCMCIA card 102 is placed in slot 103, laptop computer 100 can access PCMCIA card 102 and its functionality.
PCMCIA card 102 cannot be used to communicate with a desktop computer unless a custom PCMCIA slot is provided in the desktop computer. Most desktop computers today do not have a standard PCMCIA slot. Similarly, the same PCMCIA card cannot be used with many handheld devices like a personal digital assistant (“PDA”).
This problem is not just limited to PCMCIA cards but other cards as well, e.g., compact flash (“CF”) cards.
Therefore, there is a need for a system that can operationally couple a multi-interface card to a computing system.